Catching up on our local vegetable bag

It's been a while since I've made an update on the bag of local organic vegetables I get. As you can see from this bag, which I received in early April, the winter growing season lasts pretty long in Denmark. Leeks, beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes (always potatoes), red onions, and mushrooms were not exactly the most exciting things to have after months (7 of them!) of winter. But the spaghetti squash was fun (and honestly, Bobby and I never complain about beets). For the spaghetti squash, I made a gratin, which was quite tasty but ugly as sin!

This bag from late April was a bit more exciting, with some fresh endives and two cucumbers! It also included carrots, beets, celeriac/celery root, leeks, potatoes (always, always potatoes), and parsley. I made a version of this salad with the endives, except I replaced the blue cheese with soft goat cheese. It was quite yummy! The parsley is still on my window sill, enjoying the sun.

And now we have last week's stash! Finally, spring has arrived in Denmark, just in time to be replaced by summer. We have some potatoes (always, always, always potatoes), new spring leeks (which are closer in size to scallions/green onions than the larger winter leeks), a cucumber, asparagus (the first asparagus of the season!), mizuna salad, and rhubarb! Now things are starting to get interesting.

I found this brilliant recipe on Food52: pickled rhubarb, asparagus, and goat cheese salad! As you can see, I replaced the white asparagus called for in the recipe with the green asparagus I received in my bag, and I used half butter lettuce and half mizuna salad. This was a seriously good salad. And pickled rhubarb? Deliciously awesome.

I used the potatoes to make my first batch of roasted garlic and goat cheese mashed potatoes. I have fallen in love with these and can't believe that I've lived 29 years without having made these. All I did was roast a whole bulb of garlic in the oven, then added all the garlic along with some soft and mild goat cheese to boiled potatoes. A little milk, butter, and some salt, plus some mashing, and you've got deliciousness.

I used the spring leeks in this Singaporean slow cooker pork roast. This recipe is quite simple and very delicious, and we used the meat to feed us in a variety of ways and for several days. You can find the recipe here. Note that I didn't add the almonds, and next time I make this, I will add carrots and pearl onions to the slow cooker. I would also reduce the soy sauce to 1/2 cup and use 1/2 cup stock.

I didn't use all of the rhubarb for the pickled rhubarb salad. In fact, I had so much rhubarb that I was able to make two desserts! I made this rhubarb and strawberry pie for Bobby's return from Athens. Something about the way to a man's heart is through his stomach...   :)

This dessert was more for me than Bobby since it features lavender. Inspired by this recipe, I made lavender biscuits (I used half rye flour and half white flour), and made a vanilla, strawberry, and rhubarb compote with the remaining rhubarb. Accompanied by some crème fraîche, this was a lovely dessert. Even Bobby, who claims to not like eating lavender, enjoyed it!

I also used my birthday gift from Bobby for the first time this week! Bobby bought me a beautiful pressure cooker. I'll be honest: I was a bit afraid of using it at first. I read the owner's manual (yep, my pots and pans have owner's manuels) and learned about the many ways I could burn myself (and I burn myself fairly frequently). However, new pressure cookers are a distant relative of the old models, which could easy blow up from too much pressure. In fact, my new toy served me quite well. I cooked dried beans, which I hadn't pre-soaked. Instead of taking 3+ hours in a regular pot, the pressure cooked cooked the beans in 30 minutes! And at the lowest stove setting! Talk about saving time and energy. I am going to make another pressure cooker meal tonight: I'm going to try to steam artichokes in it, and then I will try to make risotto, a dish with which I've never had much success.

Bobby is home for a bit between his Athens trip and his upcoming London trip. Athens has made quite the impression on Bobby, with frappes making the biggest impact. So Bobby has learned how to make frappes at home, and we even have the proper glasses for them! All the more reason for you, our dear reader, to visit us.

A visit from a friend and a trip to a castle

When I returned from Athens, I was lucky enough to come home to a visit from a USC friend. Mary was finishing her bachelor in flute while I was doing my master's, and she has since gone on to complete her own master's and now a doctorate in flute performance! Mary was actually the first flutist I heard play at USC: during our first masterclass, she played a perfect version of the Firebird orchestral excerpt. I remember Bobby turning to me and saying, 'Wow, is she a doctoral student or something?' To which I replied with a horrified look on my face, 'Oh gods, no, she's an undergrad!' With that one minute of playing, I knew not only that Mary was an exceptionally talented musician, but that I was going to experience an amazing level of playing during my time at USC.

Mary and I had a lot of fun during her visit. We ate, drank, and caught up. We also did some sightseeing together! One of the best parts about having guests in town is that you get to be a tourist in your own city. On a beautiful Saturday, we took the train to Frederiksborg Slot, a really beautiful 16th century palace just 30 minutes outside of Copenhagen.

Built for King Frederik II in 1560, the palace you see now was actually completed in 1620 under Christian IV. It was lived in by only three kings: King Frederik II (king from 1559-1588), King Christian IV (king from 1588-1648), and King Frederik VII (king from 1848-1863). The palace was where kings were anointed in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

The palace is the largest Renaissance palace in Scandinavia, and is often referred to as the Versailles of Scandinavia. The palace is now a museum of national history.

The palace chapel is very ornate and is still used as a church. In fact, the day we visited, a wedding took place inside the chapel.

The palace chapel is also the home of the Knight's Chapel for the Order of the Elephant and the Order of the Dannebrog, an honor it has held since 1693. The walls of the chapel are covered in these various coats of arms. There are so many, in fact, that the older ones have been moved to the stairwells!

The two different orders: Order of the Elephant and Order of the Dannebrog. They have been awarded to many people, both noble and common, and both Danish and foreign. The Order of the Dannebrog is awarded for meritorious civil or military service, for a particular contribution to the arts, sciences or business life, or for those working for Danish interests. The Order of the Elephant is the highest orders in Denmark, and is headed by the Danish monarch (currently Queen Magrethe). Worn by the royal family, the order may also be bestowed on foreign heads of state. In very exceptional circumstances the order may also be bestowed on a commoner. The most recent holder of the order who was neither a current or former head of state nor royal was Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, a leading industrialist (he created the largest shipping company in the world) and philanthropist. As you can see in this photo, Dwight Eisenhower was awarded the Order of the Elephant.

The palace is surrounded by a lake, which acts as a natural moat. Just outside of the lake/moat are beautiful gardens. There were hundreds of these Kaiserkrone (Kaiser's crown) flowers.

The garden is a formal garden in the Baroque style. You can see a bit of the shaped hedges in the background of this photo.

There were also huge tulips all around. Mary and I really lucked out on the weather; ever since this day, it's been mostly cloudy, a bit chilly, and rainy! Good ol' Danish weather...

Food in Athens

During my time in Greece, I was lucky enough to enjoy not just one but two meals at Michelin-starred restaurants. Accompanied by foodie friends Thomas and Thomas, we ate at Hytra and Varoulko. This photo is one of the dishes served at Hytra, which was my favorite restaurant of the two. This dish features beets prepared in multiple ways (that pink thing in the middle is beet mousse with a sugar-glass cap) and goat cheese. We were served multiple courses at Hytra, including a delicious pork loin and some lovely amuse-bouche of smoked aubergine/eggplant.

This dish was served at Varoulko. There were two really good dishes from this restaurant: this fish dish, and a cuttlefish ink and mozzerella soup. The rest of the meal was a bit unimpressive, though. Fortunately, they had a nice selection of decent Greek wine. And at 40€ for a 4 course dinner, I guess I can't complain too much!

We also enjoyed the 'common' food, like these giant beans, cooked in a tomato sauce with plenty of thyme and oregano.

We also enjoyed many different types of souvlaki, which is small pieces of meat cooked on a skewer. From the left you have a spicy sausage, ground lamb, chicken, and pork. The sausage and lamb were my favorites.

There was also plenty of seafood, like this grilled octopus.

And what trip to Greece would be complete without tzatziki? I lost count the number of times I ordered this; I simply can't get enough!

I was quite surprised at the size of the portions. This steak Thomas ordered was bigger than his head! I thought it was an America thing to have big portions.

Aside from tzatziki and Greek salad, the main staple of our day was a few frappes. Made from instant coffee and condensed milk, this iced coffee not only helped us to cool down from the warm sunny days, but it also kept us on our toes from the caffeine!

Last but not least, ouzo. This anise-flavored aperitif is dangerously tasty, refreshing, and far too easy to drink.

Delphi

We rented a car in Athens and drove 180 km northwest to the beautiful and historically significant hill-side town of Delphi. We stayed at a nice hotel, where we not only had use of a great pool, but we also had this awesome view from our balcony!

Located on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis, Delphi is mostly a tourist town. Luckily we were there during a quiet period, so we didn't have to fight any crowds. The valley is very beautiful. You see olive trees everywhere, and goats roam the hillsides, watched over by a shepherd. It was so relaxing to sit by the pool and hear the sounds of the goats' bells in the distance.

We didn't spend the entire weekend lounging around the pool, though. We also visited the amazing ruins of Delphi. This was one of the most religiously significant sites in ancient Greece (it was so important that Delphi was known as the Navel of the World; in other words, it was the center of the world). Dating as far back as the 8th century BCE, Delphi housed the Oracle of Apollo. The Oracle was a priestess, and the god Apollo would speak through her while she was in a trance. The Oracle would sit in the Temple of Apollo, the ruins of which you see here. These ruins date back to the 4th century BCE. The temple is built over chasm, and it is thought that ethylene fumes arose from this chasm. Ethylene fumes can cause violent seizures, so it's likely that the priestess' trances were induced from these toxic fumes!

The Temple of Apollo is not the only ancient structure in Delphi, though it is probably the most important. Similar to the Acropolis, there were also administrative buildings, theaters, and other temples surrounding the Temple of Apollo. Here you see the Treasury of Athens, one of many treasuries that were located in Delphi. They were built by various Greek city states to commemorate victories and to thank the oracle for her advice, which was thought to have contributed to those victories. They are called 'treasuries' because they held the offerings made to Apollo; these were frequently a tenth of the spoils of a battle.

If you look hard enough, you can see that there are engravings all over the marble side of the Treasury of Athens.

Inside the Delphi Museum, you can see several of the original metopes (a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze), including this one, which I find rather graphic and interesting.

There is also a theater in Delphi. Built in the 4th century BCE, it could hold up to 5000 spectators and gave a phenomenal view of the the Temple of Apollo and the valley below.

There is even a 5th century BCE athletic stadium! The stadium could hold 6500 spectators, and the track was 177 meters/580 feet long and 25.5 meters/83 feet wide.

Chariot races took place in Delphi. This statue, created in 474 BCE, was found near the Temple of Apollo. It was erected to commemorate the victory of a chariot team in the Pythian Games, which were held at Delphi every four years in honor of Pythean Apollo.

Acropolis

During our stay in Athens, we spent a full day exploring the ruins of the Acropolis. Mind you, the Acropolis isn't just the Parthenon. Rather, it's an ancient citadel with a number of buildings, theaters  and temples. Though the hill has been inhabited since the 4000 BCE, it was only in 500 BCE that Pericles organized the construction of the Acropolis' most famous sites: the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion, and the Temple of Athena Nike (the Temple of Athena Nike is the building completely covered in scaffolding).

At the base of the Acropolis is the Theater of Dionysis. This theater was built in the 5th and 4th century BCE and was dedicated to Dionysis, the Greek god of wine and patron god of the theater. The chairs/thrones you see were especially created for VIP theater patrons such as the head priest of Dionysus (I'm pretty sure I could follow that religion... honoring the god of wine) and important politicians.

Here you can see the theater from above.

There is another theater a bit higher up, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. Unlike the Theater of Dionysis, which was used for plays, the Odeon was used as a music venue and had a seating capacity of 5000. Built in 161 ACE, it was commissioned by the wealthy Athenian Heordes Atticus in memory of his wife. Is it still an active music venue!

We then headed further up the hill and entered the Acropolis plateau through the Propylaea. A monumental gate, the Propylaea was built in the 430s BCE. In ancient times, the Propylaea served as a controlled entrance to the Acropolis. Those not deemed ritually clean were denied entrance. Luckily, we made it through.

Directly across from the Parthenon is my favorite building on the Acropolis: the Erechtheion. Built between 420 and 406 BCE, the temple was dedicated to the legendary Greek hero Erichthonius (a mythological early ruler of ancient Athens who was raised by the goddess Athena).

My favorite part of the Erechtheion is the Porch of the Maidens. These 6 pillars were actually built to conceal a giant 15-ft beam needed to support the southwest corner! Beautiful and functional.

And of course, we saw the Parthenon. Begun in 447 BCE, the Parthenon served as a temple to the goddess Athena, the patron deity of Athens. It has served many purposes: aside from being a temple, it was also used as a treasury; it was converted to a Christian church in the 5th century ACE and dedicated to the Virgin Mary; during the Ottoman occupation in the 1460s, it was converted into a mosque. As you can see, a part of the Western front is under construction (as my Dad said, "In the history of the Acropolis I bet there has always been scaffolding.").

The Eastern side, luckily, was uncovered.

From the top of the Acropolis hill, you can see the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Though most of the structure is gone, you can get a good sense of just how huge the temple must have been based on the massive size and height of the remaining columns.

Down the hill from the Parthenon is the Temple of Hephaestus. Begun in 449 BCE, this temple was dedicated to the god Hephaestus, the patron god of metal working and craftsmanship.

It makes sense that this temple was dedicated to Hephaestus, as there were numerous potters' workshops and metal-working shops in the vicinity of the temple. Like the Parthenon, this temple was eventually converted into a church. From the 7th century to 1834, it was the Greek Orthodox church of St. George Akamates.